Dr. Kayla Steele, Ph.D

New paper🎉 In a retrospective audit (n=376) of an Australian mental health service: 👉57% patients had significant personality difficulties 👉Only 3.5% had a recorded PD diagnosis PD may be going unrecognised or undiagnosed in acute settings 🔗tinyurl.com/kph7fhtb

Our study protocol for the 7-day iCBT for social anxiety disorder randomised controlled trial was recently published in Trials 🥳 This project is a collaboration between @blackdoginst @UNSWScience + @CRUfAD, supervised by @drjillnewby. To read more: trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…

Yesterday I spoke with @davidmarchese from @triplej about the lasting impact of bullying. Thank you to the young people who shared their stories, and the Hack team, @ABCaustralia and @blackdoginst for the opportunity. @UNSW | @UNSWScience abc.net.au/triplej/progra…

How bullying can torment you years later. An excellent interview with @drkaylasteele from @blackdoginst about the disastrous effects of bullying, and how to support your mental health if you’ve been through it: abc.net.au/triplej/progra… via @ABCaustralia

I had the pleasure of speaking with @GeraetsNell for the @smh about sibling estrangement. In the words of @oasis if you want to reconnect with your sibling, ‘Some Might Say’… ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’. Read more👇 smh.com.au/lifestyle/life… @UNSW @UNSWScience @blackdoginst

@herzog_ph Looking forward to reading more. Congratulations @herzog_ph 👏

Had the pleasure of speaking with ⁦@ABCaustralia⁩ about the difference between shyness and social anxiety, ⁦@drjillnewby⁩ and my article in ⁦@ConversationEDU⁩ and research with ⁦@UNSW⁩ + ⁦@UNSWScience⁩ + ⁦@blackdoginst⁩ instagram.com/reel/C73Sf-4hm…

What’s the difference between shyness and social anxiety? Our new article by @drkaylasteele @blackdoginst @UNSWScience theconversation.com/whats-the-diff… via @ConversationEDU

@ConversationEDU @drjillnewby @UNSW Thank you @a_evangeli for bringing this to life 👏

Both involve feeling uncomfortable in social situations. But, as @drkaylasteele + @drjillnewby (@UNSW) write, one can be debilitating. #Echobox=1717015721-1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">theconversation.com/whats-the-diff…

@NicholasJSDay Thank you, kind friend ☺️

A great article from the talented @drkaylasteele!

Our new article ‘Whats the difference between shyness and social anxiety’ with @drjillnewby is now live via @ConversationEDU To learn more about social anxiety disorder, and how it differentiates from shyness, read below 👇 @UNSW | @UNSWScience | @blackdoginst

Our review of Illness Anxiety Disorder is out now led by @KatarinaKikas (first PhD paper 🎉🤩)! with @alizaws and Emily Upton @blackdoginst & @UNSWScience check it out: link.springer.com/article/10.100…

1/ I’m not sure, but leaning toward the view that all the research showing that therapeutic alliance predicts therapy outcome may be leading us astray. Here me out Just about any well-intentioned therapist can develop a decent working alliance with someone at the healthier end

3/ and embrace the spirit of critical enquiry and scientific collaboration using 'both/and' arguments. This creates the possibility for better, more tailored treatment for individuals who are suffering, which (hopefully) is at the heart of our work as health professionals.

2/ A/Prof Loyola McLean says of the divide opinions within her profession: "It could well be that we're talking about two halves of the same whole". Rather than widen this divide with 'either/or' arguments, I'd prefer to see health professionals acknowledge their differences...

Interesting article by @natasha__may, but I'm weary of arguments that contribute to splitting (creating an us vs. them dynamic) + reinforce difficulties in identity integration/formation of healthy relationships that we see in people with #BPD + #CPTSD theguardian.com/society/articl…

Unconscious Motivations for Becoming a Therapist feat. McWilliams, Shedler, and Cundy For many therapists, formative relationships with confusing, unpredictable, or depressive caregivers that are internalised as relational templates are what drive us professionally. We come to study therapy to make sense of this experience. What we often miss is that providing therapy symbolically satisfies a deep, unconscious desire to save that caregiver. Both Nancy McWilliams (2011) and @JonathanShedler (2021) note that psychotherapists often have depressive personality styles: "Psychotherapists, as previously noted, often have significant introjective dynamics. They seek opportunities to help others so that their unconscious anxieties about their destructiveness will be kept at bay. Since it is hard to help people psychologically, at least as fast as we would all wish, and since we cannot avoid inflicting temporary pain on patients in the service of their growth or when we simply make a mistake, feelings of exaggerated responsibility and disproportionate self-criticism are common in beginning therapists" - McWilliams. "Depressive personality is the most common personality style among people drawn to the mental health professions. Clinical practitioners have endless opportunity to care for others instead of themselves, be unduly helpful, and fault themselves for falling short of unrealistic, self-imposed standards" - Shedler. Linda Cundy (2017) has also observed: "Most of my anxiously attached clients become aware that they misunderstand other people and recognise that it would help them to have a meaningful framework to make sense of human behaviour and human minds. Many of them choose to study psychology, counselling, or psychotherapy. Others are drawn to different paradigms, including religions, pop psychology, new age philosophies, spiritual practices, or astrology". This is why personal therapy is often so important for trainee therapists.

So proud to announce the official launch of Mello - a free, evidence-based app to help the 1.3 million young Australians struggling with mental ill-health. The app works by targeting stuck thinking (worry/rumination). Download it in Oz for free - check out mello.org.au

New postdoc position at @blackdoginst + @unsw calls for #NewProfilePic 👋

Newly updated "Psychiatric diagnoses are descriptive, not explanatory. It's not that we don't know their causes 𝘺𝘦𝘵. It's that DSM diagnoses cannot speak to causes, now or ever. The DSM was not designed to speak to causes, only describe effects." psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psycho…